Cultural Diplomacy

The UAE government has launched four new strategies to achieve the goals of the UAE Centennial 2071 project to make the country the best in the world. [...] The soft power framework aims to see integrated diplomatic action that takes into account cultural components such as individual identity, heritage, social stability, political climate, culture openness and tolerance.

"I really want to see the Tatras," said Aistė Černauskytė, a political science student from Lithuania, after having laid her eyes on the landscape of Slovakia during her bus trip to Bratislava. Aistė is one of the international students who arrived to spend a semester in Bratislava. She spent 21 hours on the bus from Vilnius, across Poland, right to the Slovak capital. "Central Europe isn't very well-known to me," says Aistė Černauskytė, who appreciates the strategically good location of Bratislava for traveling.

“Tourism is today the third largest export industry in the world after chemicals and fuels,” Taleb Rifai said on Tuesday in a video message to the opening ceremony of an event held in Tehran to mark World Tourism Day, September 27. "Last year alone, 1.235 million travelers crossed international borders in one single year. By 2030, this 1.2 billion will become 1.8 billion,” Rifai added.

Luo Shugang, China’s minister of culture has stressed that the key to sound relations between states lies in their respective people’s closeness to each other based on mutual understanding. Minister Shugang was emphasizing the essence of culture as a means of promoting the One Belt One Road Initiative, which holistically underscores “openness, inclusiveness, mutual learning and shared economic prosperity” amongst developing nations.

Principal director in the Rural Development, Preservation of Culture and Heritage ministry, Paul Damasane has said films are important mediums that help in the promotion and preservation of culture and heritage and his ministry seeks to the encourage the growth of the creative industry, so it can make a unique contribution to the cultural expression. Damasane made the remarks in Harare last week at the opening ceremony of the ongoing China Film Exhibition in Africa hosted by the Chinese embassy and the China Film Group Corporation.

Men in Jazz, a multi award-winning jazz band from Hong Kong, was in the country recently to give a performance at the Youth Centre in the capital and as part of the final leg of their Asean tour. [...] For many of the Hong Kongers, it was their first time visiting Brunei. Some said that they would gladly return to visit the country again with their family members and friends.

The U.S. Embassy India is celebrating September as the month of U.S.-India friendship, and the diplomats are busy showcasing their respect by reciting Indian poems and taking road trips. The last two weeks have been busy for U.S. diplomats in India as they were learning Indian languages such as Hindi and Urdu to recite the poems of Ghalib and Dagh.

In pursuance of its declared policy to maintain peace and harmony in the world, Federal Republic of Germany is again organizing 9-week festival in Karachi from Oct 11 to December 17 with unique events like a lecture of religious harmony by an eminent scholar, and sufi music concert, the German consul general in Karachi Rainer Schmiedchen announced here Thursday afternoon, saying with tremendous confidence that security situation has improved in Karachi substantially, proven by the presence of so many participants from his country.